New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently attended Friday prayers at a Queens mosque affiliated with the Al-Khoei Foundation, an institution whose website prominently features a message mourning the death of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

Mamdani described the visit in a Facebook post reflecting on Ramadan gatherings he attended across the city.

“As we enter the latter half of Ramadan, I’m grateful to the communities who opened their doors, shared their tables, and welcomed me to break bread alongside them,” Mamdani wrote. “These moments of gathering remind us that solidarity is not abstract — it’s something we practice with one another, every day.”

He went on to thank several hosts, including writing: “Thank you to Al Khoie Foundation for making me feel at home during my first jummah as mayor.”

The Al-Khoei Foundation operates a mosque and Islamic center in Queens and is one of the largest Shia Muslim institutions in North America.

Visitors to the organization’s website are greeted with a prominent statement mourning the death of Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes of the ongoing war involving the United States and Israel.

The message is attributed to Iraqi cleric Ali al-Sistani, a leading Shia religious authority. In the statement, Sistani offers condolences for what he describes as the “martyrdom” of Khamenei and praises the Iranian leader’s “lofty position” and his role in guiding the Islamic Republic.

The message also criticizes the military strikes that killed Khamenei, referring to them as “mass military aggression” and calling on Iranians to remain unified in response.

The Al-Khoei Foundation was established in the late 1980s and is named after the late Iraqi Shia cleric Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei. The organization operates religious, educational and community programs in New York and maintains connections with Shia religious institutions abroad.

Its Queens mosque regularly hosts religious services, including the weekly jummah prayer attended by Mamdani during Ramadan.

Khamenei, who led Iran for more than three decades, was killed during the opening phase of the current conflict after a large-scale U.S.-Israeli strike targeted senior Iranian leadership in Tehran.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)